Tools

Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone) is surprisingly convincing as a divorced, hard-living long-haul trucker whose cherished liberty is abruptly curtailed when her ailing ex-husband (Benjamin Bratt) dumps their obstreperous 11-year-old son (Jimmy Bennett) on her doorstep. Her married drinking partner and would-be lover (Nathan Fillion of Firefly) helps bridge the chasm between mother and son until her maternal instincts belatedly kick in. Writer-director James Mottern has a reasonably good feel for the textures of blue-collar life, but he pounds home the life lessons, underscoring them with poignant country-western songs. R, 93 min.
ByCliff Doerksen